The present invention relates to a forward recumbent posture pod for supporting the anterior torso of an infant resting therein while permitting unrestricted movement of the person's arms, legs and head to a posture pod configuration that abducts the flexed hip sufficiently to stabilize the head of the femur in the hip's acetabulum socket and thereby assist in the normal growth and development of the hip joint.
Full-term newborn infants generally have well developed posterior muscles of the neck and trunk. However, a newborn infant typically has weak anterior neck muscles, and if lying or held supine with its face up, is unable to lift its head. A newborn infant left in the supine position is relatively helpless, only able to move its arms and legs and unable to view the world around it. Newborn infants left in this position tend to grow irritable and restless.
In contrast, a full-term newborn infant that is seated or being held with his or her torso supported and forwardly inclined is able to lift and support its head, and turn its head from side-to-side to look about. Infants supported in this forward recumbent position are able to move their bodies in a swimming motion and intake the sensory stimulation surrounding it such as their mother's voice. Infants so positioned tend to find this posture highly pleasurable, and are far less likely to be irritable and restless.
Conventional infant seats, exercisers, and swings are not designed to recognize the limited development of a baby's anterior neck muscles or to take advantage of the baby's strong posterior neck and trunk muscles. Typical infant seats support a baby reclined backwards in a semi-supine position, while infant swings and exercisers tend to support an infant in an upright or semi-reclined position. One conventional configuration of an infant exercise seat is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 3,528,657, issued to Krupsky, which discloses an infant swing wherein the infant is seated with its back vertically upright, or alternately, in a fully supine reclined position.
An alternate conventional configuration that provides anterior support for a person resting in a semi-inclined recumbent position is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,733,104, issued to Carstensen. The body support disclosed in that patent provides an inclined board upon which a person rests his or her full frontal body. However, depending on the board's configuration, the support does not allow free movement of the legs, or at most provides for movement of the legs only as a means of propelling the support board when mounted as a mobile walker. In addition, the arms and head rest upon slanted board surfaces that restrict their free downward movement. Further, such a board would be unsafe for young infants as the infants are not restrained from sliding off of the board sideways or from falling off the board backwards as a result of back arching.
Adduction of the hips refers to the infant's legs being drawn together in parallel fashion. Flexion refers to drawing the infant's thighs toward the abdomen and abduction refers to the legs being spread apart from each other. During the first few months of life, due to imperfect formation of the acetabulum and lax ligaments, it is not unusual for an infant's hip joint to develop subluxation. This is a situation where the head of the femur does not have a stable concentric and congruent perfect fit and is somewhat loose in the socket. Such subluxation of the hip joint can lead to a serious condition, congenital dislocation of the hip (CDH).
Adduction and extension are known to increase the subluxation-dislocation tendency, while a position of flexion and abduction encourages a stable perfect fit with subsequent normal development and growth of both the head of the femur and the socket or acetabulum, resulting in a stable, normal hip joint. Because the hip joint doubles in size during this period, the most rapid growth period, a normal relationship of the femur head and hip socket is most important during the first five to six months of life.